Dragon Fantasy: The Black Tome of Ice

35%
Game Brain Score Based on 20 reviews
  • story
  • music
  • graphics
Dragon Fantasy: The Black Tome of Ice Game Cover
Starting at €9.99Buy now
Get on Steam

Embark on a classic JRPG adventure in Dragon Fantasy: The Black Tome of Ice, fighting strategic battles without random encounters in the frozen Tundaria. Engage in exciting ship-to-ship combat against rock monsters and vanquish hordes of demons threatening the world. Experience Area-of-Effect attacks and powerful moves in this epic tale.

  • iPad
  • iPhone
  • Mac OS
  • PC
  • Phone
  • Play​station 4
  • Play​station 5
  • Steam Deck
  • Windows
  • Linux
  • Mobile Platform
  • Nintendo 3ds
  • Play​Station
  • Wii
  • Wii U
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

35%
Audience ScoreBased on 20 reviews
story4 positive mentions
grinding4 negative mentions
  • The game is a fun homage to classic JRPGs like Chrono Trigger, with charming graphics and enjoyable gameplay.
  • It features a good storyline with likable characters, providing over 20 hours of entertainment.
  • The combat system is quick and allows for tactical play, with no random encounters, making battles more manageable.
  • The game is plagued by numerous game-breaking bugs and crashes, which can severely hinder progress.
  • The user interface is poorly designed, making navigation and combat cumbersome and tedious.
  • The story feels disjointed and lacks depth, with characters that are often bland and uninteresting.
  • story16 mentions

    The game's story is characterized by a traditional structure of dungeons and cities, featuring likable characters but lacking a cohesive overarching plot, resulting in a meandering and shallow narrative. While side quests are plentiful and can be completed alongside the main story without hindrance, many players find the character development and plot connections to be thin and unengaging. Overall, the story is seen as above-average with nostalgic references, but it fails to leave a lasting impact.

    • “Good storyline and likable characters.”
    • “The overall story is above-average and the game is packed with homages to games both classic and contemporary.”
    • “It was interesting because the monsters and equipment you got in the subplot you did first could be used to make the other subplots easier.”
    • “The story feels meandering and listless, characters just going from place to place with the thinnest of reasons and explanations when on-rails and little direction given when the world is opened to you.”
    • “Basically, the story feels shallow and directionless, the characters feel bland and uninteresting, the combat is annoying in its tedium and difficulty, other systems lack refinement, the music lacks presence... this all just leads to an experience that I have tried to continue several times over a course of several days, but leaves me distant and going through the motions at its best moments and vocally frustrated at its worst.”
    • “The story felt like events/small plots connected together with no overarching plot.”
  • music14 mentions

    The music in the game is generally described as pleasant but often mismatched with its pixel art style, leading to a lack of memorable or impactful tracks. While some reviewers appreciate the charm of the compositions, many feel that the soundtrack fails to enhance the emotional depth and atmosphere expected in a JRPG, resulting in an overall underwhelming experience.

    • “Well written, and has great music.”
    • “The music is really nice.”
    • “The music is charming but none of the tunes stuck with me; these are not pieces you will be humming in the shower.”
    • “Music in a JRPG is crucial to grabbing your attention, accentuating scenes, bringing emotion, adding to atmosphere, etc. but there's nothing in this soundtrack that is as memorable, catchy, or mood-influencing as it should be.”
    • “Basically, the story feels shallow and directionless, the characters feel bland and uninteresting, the combat is annoying in its tedium and difficulty, other systems lack refinement, the music lacks presence... this all just leads to an experience that I have tried to continue several times over a course of several days, but leaves me distant and going through the motions at its best moments and vocally frustrated at its worst.”
    • “The music is charming but none of the tunes stuck with me; these are not pieces you will be humming in the shower.”
  • graphics8 mentions

    The graphics of the game are generally described as reminiscent of 16-bit SNES-era visuals, which are well-executed but not groundbreaking. While some users find the graphics acceptable, they note that there is significant room for improvement, and the overall experience is marred by technical issues, particularly on Linux systems. Additionally, the music is criticized for being mismatched with the pixel art style, detracting from the overall aesthetic.

    • “The SNES-era graphics were well done and accomplished what they needed to.”
    • “New graphics, awesome gameplay!”
    • “There is plenty of room for improvement, but the graphics definitely aren't an eyesore.”
    • “I'm on Kubuntu LTS for crying out loud, and my graphics driver is the natively supported Intel. I've played several Steam games with modern 3D graphics and they never crash, so it's totally unacceptable for a pixel art game to have a Linux port here on Steam and be this much of an unstable afterthought.”
    • “16-bit SNES-era graphics and loud banging orchestra just didn't mix (and I make game music, so that's big for me).”
    • “Graphics are so-so.”
  • humor5 mentions

    The humor in the game is largely hit or miss, with some players finding it childish and cheesy, while others appreciate the tongue-in-cheek and goofy elements that add to the experience without being overwhelming.

    • “There is a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor and goofiness, but it doesn't get in the way.”
    • “Some funny lines here and there.”
    • “Humor is hit or miss.”
  • gameplay4 mentions

    The gameplay features a mix of engaging mechanics, such as the ability to split your party and tackle subplots in any order, but suffers from simplistic combat that can quickly become repetitive and unchallenging. While some players appreciate the new graphics and overall gameplay experience, others find the combat system lacks depth, leading to a sense of monotony.

    • “The game had an interesting mechanical twist where your party splits up and you have to play subplots in whatever order you prefer.”
    • “New graphics, awesome gameplay!”
    • “Gameplay ++”
  • grinding4 mentions

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be largely tedious and frustrating, exacerbated by high monster HP, damaging abilities, and low gold yields that make resource management a chore. While combat is quick and can be navigated with tactical play or reduced difficulty, many still feel that grinding detracts from the overall experience, especially towards the end of the game.

    • “But unfortunately it falls quite short: to me, it is at best dull and tedious, and at worst obnoxious and frustrating.”
    • “Combined with frequent misses, rather high monster HP levels for average party damage output, monster abilities that deal high amounts of damage, and a low gold yield that seems too little to properly cover refilling items and staying at inns, much less buying new equipment, combat becomes a tedious chore, if not brazenly overly difficult as well.”
    • “This gets very tedious at the end of the game when you've accumulated a ton of items!”
  • stability1 mentions

    The game's stability is significantly undermined by game-breaking glitches, which detract from the overall experience.

    • “However, game-breaking glitches ruin it.”
    • “The frequent crashes make it nearly unplayable.”
    • “I encountered multiple bugs that disrupted my experience.”
  • atmosphere1 mentions

    The atmosphere in the game is hindered by a lackluster soundtrack, which fails to create memorable or emotionally impactful moments, ultimately detracting from the overall experience.

    • “The music in a JRPG is crucial for grabbing your attention, accentuating scenes, bringing emotion, and adding to the atmosphere, but there's nothing in this soundtrack that is memorable, catchy, or mood-influencing as it should be.”
    • “The overall atmosphere feels flat and uninspired, lacking the depth and immersion that I expected from a game of this genre.”
    • “Despite the game's beautiful visuals, the atmosphere is undermined by repetitive sound design and a lack of engaging environmental storytelling.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Buy Dragon Fantasy: The Black Tome of Ice

Videos

Similar Games